Dave Goldby

Hi Allan, I recently fitted an auto-locker to the front of my GU Patrol. I took it for a shakedown cruise on the beach and it clicked loudly, but still worked – you can feel the steering go heavy.

The first time I took it to the local hardcore track for some serious off-road work, I was going ok and then all of a sudden had no drive to the front end (although the front tailshaft was still spinning). I disengaged and re-engaged the manual hubs and had drive to the front left but not the right, so I was in 3WD. I pulled the right hub off to check and everything seemed to be functioning properly.

I limped back to the road in 3WD, no sooner was I back on flat ground than I hear the familiar clicking noise and the steering goes heavy, like it’s all locked in. Any idea what the problem could be here?

Allan

Dave, I’m in favor of auto lockers, but generally not in the front. It’s easy to get into trouble with them there. They click loudly as part of their normal operation so I don’t think there’s any problem there, but when you put them in the front; it can be awkward if you need to lock the hubs in just to get through some stuff as the steering will go pretty heavy.

When you mention 3WD, I think you’ll need to pull both of the hubs off as I suspect one of them may be damaged. Auto lockers are guaranteed for all sorts of use, as they’re quite a solid unit that generally doesn’t give any trouble. I’d pull both hubs off and give them a good clean and inspect them for damage.

But yeah, in my humble opinion, auto lockers in the front end can be a bit of a problem with controlling the vehicle. Hopefully that will help.